5 Tips to Leave Your Job on a Positive Note

Very few of us stay in one job during our entire working lives so we will likely go through the experience of changing jobs.

It can be important to your future career to ensure that you leave your current employer on good terms.

Here are 5 tips to leave your job on a positive note.

1. Give proper notice. Some companies require giving a two week notice when leaving a

job. Be sure to follow your company's requirement here and provide the appropriate notice when leaving your job. You don't want to quit suddenly and leave your employer in a difficult position. Your employer will be less likely to recommend you to a future employer.

2. Get a recommendation. While you are still employed ask your direct manager or someone else familiar with your performance to write a letter of recommendation for you. Do this while your skills and abilities are still clear in the mind of your manager.

3. Connect on LinkedIn. Make your LinkedIn connections with coworkers and managers before you leave the company.

4. Remove personal files. If you have a company provided laptop or computer be sure to remove any personal files on it. You don't want someone else reading about your personal life or seeing how many times you updated your resume while at work. The same goes for any paper copies of personal items.

5. Provide contact info. Be sure to let co-workers, managers, and customers know how they can reach you in the future.

Leaving a job positively can support future job opportunities and can pave the way for you to return to a company at a later time.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: How to Ask for a Raise

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

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• 5 Lessons to Make a Partnership Work: "Having a sense of shared community made us feel less lonely and uncertain about our choices."


• How to Cultivate Your Professional Relationships: "Make 'reconnect' files on your calendar that recur on a monthly basis. These remind you to reach out in a way as small as a call or email to say hello, see how they’re doing, send a pertinent article or ask how you can help them."


• Things You Must Never Reveal About Yourself at Work: "The last thing anyone wants to hear at work is someone complaining about how much they hate their job. Doing so labels you as a negative person, who is not a team player."


• How to Ask for a Raise: "First, and most important, are facts about your own unique contributions that bolster your case: money-saving efficiencies you implemented, results from a project you’ve just overseen, positive customer testimonials, or praise from higher ups."


• 11 Tips for Job Seekers on Twitter: "You can and should include a link to a personal website, social landing page or LinkedIn profile. Think about where you want people to learn more about you, and use the right link to send them there."

When is it Acceptable to Use Personal Information on a Resume?

I am member of several resume writing professional organizations. On a recent e-list posting, another writer posed the question of whether or not she should list on her customer's resume for entry into graduate school that he was a former Abercrombie & Fitch model. My immediate response to this query was a resounding . . . Yes, if the audience is right. Think of how much curiosity this one simple statement would arouse in both male and female hiring authorities.

If you have followed my blog posts, you know that I am not a proponent of putting personal information on the resume. However, there are - like most rules - some exceptions to this rule. Let's explore a few.

Your Information Will Intrigue the Interviewer
Resumes are meant to entice the reader to want to call you. Whether they are enticed by your qualifications or the fact that they want to see a real-life A&F model in-person is irrelevant once you walk in the door and make your interview "sales pitch." If you have something in your background that you feel is a talking point, or a conversation starter, then by all means find a way to include this information.

Your Information Will Show your Passion for Their Industry
I once had a customer that was retiring from the newspaper industry. He was a self-proclaimed NASCAR fanatic. His goal was a job - any job - in the NASCAR industry. He was a volunteer pit crew member, he had season tickets to 4 different raceways across the country and he had never missed a Daytona 500 race in more than 10 years. All of this information was vital to demonstrating his passion and interest in his career field of choice.

Volunteerism, hobbies, and clubs or organizations should definitely be included on two conditions. First, that the information is relevant and second that the experience will demonstrate that you have gained first-hand knowledge of the industry through your "extra-curricular" activities.

You Received a Prestigious or Recognizable Award
I work with a lot of military transition job seekers. One of the hardest habits for them to break is talking about (and listing on their resume) all their awards and decorations. Most of these do not mean anything significant to anyone outside their military branch.

However, there are recognitions, such as the Purple Heart or Medal of Valor, that everyone understands has some value and meaning behind the award. When listing awards or achievements, be sure to talk briefly in the resume why you were awarded the particular honor.